For several generations, the Abbado family enjoyed both wealth and respect. Abbado's great-grandfather squandered the family fortune and reputation by gambling. His son, Abbado's grandfather, became a professor at the University of Turin. His grandfather re-established the family's reputation and also showed talent as an amateur musician.

Born in Milan, Italy, Claudio Abbado was the son of violinist and composer conductor Michelangelo Abbado, and the brother of the musician Marcello Abbado (born 1926). His father, a professional violinist and a professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, was his first piano teacher. His mother also was an adept pianist. Marcello Abbado later became a concert pianist and teacher at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. His sister also exhibited talent in music, but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage. His other brother later became a successful architect.

Abbado's childhood encompassed the Nazi occupation of Milan. During that time, Abbado's mother spent time in prison for harbouring a Jewish child. This period solidified his anti-fascist political sentiments. However, his musical interests also developed, with attendance at performances at La Scala, as well as orchestral rehearsals in Milan led by such conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler. He later recalled that Toscanini's periods of abusive behaviour to musicians in rehearsal repelled him. Other conductors who influenced him as a child were Victor de Sabata and Rafael Kubelík. It was not until hearing Antonio Guarnieri's conducting of Claude Debussy's Nocturnes that Abbado resolved to become a conductor himself. At age 15, he met Leonard Bernstein, who commented, "You have the eye to be a conductor."

Abbado taught chamber music for 3 years during the early 1960s in Parma.[9][10] His early advocacy of contemporary music included conducting the world premiere of Giacomo Manzoni's Atomtod, on 25 March 1965, in Milan.

Conducting career

In 1969, Abbado became principal conductor at La Scala. Subsequently, he became the company's music director in 1972. He took the title of joint artistic director, along with Giorgio Strehler and Carlo Maria Badini, in 1976. During his tenure, he extended the opera season to four months, and focused on giving inexpensive performances for the working class and students. In addition to the standard opera repertoire, he presented contemporary operas, including works of Luigi Dallapiccola and of Luigi Nono, in particular the world premiere of Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore. In 1976, he brought the La Scala Company to the USA for its American debut in Washington D.C. for the American Bicentennial. In 1982, he founded the Filarmonica della Scala for the performance of orchestral repertoire by the house orchestra in concert. Abbado remained affiliated with La Scala until 1986.

On 7 October 1968, Abbado made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera with Don Carlo. He began to work more extensively with the Vienna Philharmonic (VPO) after 1971, which included two engagements as conductor of the orchestra's New Year's Day concert, in 1988 and 1991. He was a recipient of both the Philharmonic Ring and the Golden Nicolai Medal from the Vienna Philharmonic.

He served as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) from 1975 to 1979 and became its Principal Conductor in 1979, a post he held until 1987 (he was also the LSO's Music Director from 1984 until the end of his principal conductor tenure). From 1982 to 1985, he was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). In 1986, Abbado became the Generalmusikdirector (GMD) of the city of Vienna, and in parallel, was music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991. During his tenure as GMD in Vienna, in 1988, he founded the music festival Wien Modern.

Berlin Philharmonic

Abbado first conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in December 1966. After 33 appearances as a guest conductor, in 1989, the Berlin Philharmonic elected him as its chief conductor and artistic director, in succession to Herbert von Karajan. During his Berlin tenure, he oversaw an increased presence in contemporary music in the orchestra's programming. In 1992, he co-founded 'Berlin Encounters', a chamber music festival. In 1994, he became artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival. In 1998, he announced his departure from the Berlin Philharmonic after the expiration of his contract in 2002. Prior to his departure, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000, which led to his cancellation of a number of engagements with the orchestra. Subsequent medical treatment led to the removal of a portion of his digestive system, and he cancelled his conducting activities for 3 months in 2001.

In 2004, Abbado returned to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time since his departure as chief conductor, for concerts of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 recorded live for commercial release. The resulting CD won Best Orchestral Recording and Record of the Year in Gramophone Magazine's 2006 awards. The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic established the Claudio Abbado Kompositionspreis (Claudio Abbado Composition Prize) in his honour, which has since been awarded in 2006, 2010 and 2014.

Other orchestras and post-Berlin work

In addition to his work with long-established ensembles, Abbado founded a number of new orchestras with younger musicians at their core. These included the European Community Youth Orchestra (later the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO)), in 1978, and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO; Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra) in (1988). In both instances, musicians from the respective youth orchestras founded spinoff orchestras, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, respectively. Abbado worked with both these ensembles regularly as well, and was artistic advisor to the COE, though he did not hold a formal title with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In turn, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra formed the core of the newest incarnation of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which Abbado and Michael Haefliger of the Lucerne Festival established in the early 2000s, and which featured musicians from various orchestras with which Abbado had long-standing artistic relationships. The final new orchestra that Abbado helped to establish was the Orchestra Mozart, of Bologna, Italy, in 2004 and he served as its founding music director until his death.

Repertoire

Amongst a wide range of Romantic works which he recorded and performed, Abbado had a particular affinity with the music of Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies he recorded several times. Despite this, he never managed to complete a cycle with a single orchestra: in a mix of studio and concert releases, he recorded Symphonies 1-2 and 5-7 in Chicago, Symphonies 2-4, 9 and the Adagio from 10 in Vienna, Symphonies 1 and 3-9 in Berlin, and Symphonies 1-7 and 9 in Lucerne. A planned Eighth in Lucerne (the intended culmination of his traversal of the symphonies there) had to be cancelled owing to his ill health. The symphony was finally performed and recorded in 2016 under Riccardo Chailly as a tribute to Abbado.

Musical style

Abbado tended to speak very little in rehearsal, sometimes using the simple request to orchestras to "Listen". This was a reflection of his own preference for communication as a conductor, via physical gesture and the eyes; and his perception that orchestras did not like conductors who spoke a great deal in rehearsal. Clive Gillinson characterised Abbado's style as follows:

"...he basically doesn't say anything in rehearsals, and speaks so quietly, because he's so shy, so people can get bored. But it works because everyone knows the performances are so great. I've never known anybody more compelling. He's the most natural conductor in the world. Some conductors need to verbally articulate what they want through words, but Claudio just shows it, just does it."

In performance, Abbado often conducted from memory, as he himself noted:

"...it is indispensable to know the score perfectly and be familiar with the life, the works and the entire era of the composer. I feel more secure without a score. Communication with the orchestra is easier."

Personal life

From his first marriage in 1956, to singer Giovanna Cavazzoni, Abbado had two children, Daniele Abbado (born 1958), who became an opera director, and Alessandra (born 1959). His first marriage ended in divorce. From his second marriage, to Gabriella Cantalupi, Abbado had a son, Sebastiano. His four-year relationship with Viktoria Mullova resulted in Mullova's first child, a son, Misha. Abbado's nephew, the son of his brother, Marcello, is the conductor Roberto Abbado.

Death

Abbado died in Bologna on 20 January 2014 at the age of 80. One week later, in tribute to him, the orchestra "Filarmonica della Scala", conducted by Daniel Barenboim, performed the slow movement of Beethoven's Symphony No 3 (Marcia funebre: Adagio assai in C minor) to an empty theater, with the performance relayed to a crowd in the square in front of the opera house and live-streamed via La Scala's website. He is buried in Switzerland.